FreakFish calling Daz…

Its nearly fully sanded and then comes back for pinlines and artwork… the big decision, speed coat and get it in the water straight away or gloss and polish and wait at least another week… Hmmmm

This one will also be on demo so email if you want to try it out.

Demo blunt diamond…

Was surfing a great little break I call “Scalps” this morning, lovely right reef (don’t ask where) with a few friendly compadres… and one asked about the blunt diamond demo – so if you happen to be reading this post… here’s a pic. It’s just waiting for Daz to polish it. 6’8” x 21 1/8” x 2 5/8” It has a wide tail but foiled through so its easy to bury the rail and the double concave bonzer bottom keeps it really lively and fast. The fin set up is EVO3 with American Hardwood fins by yours truly. resin tint on the bottom. 6oz + 4oz deck with a 6oz bottom with a 4oz fin patch. This one was glassed by Jason. It also has a Go-Pro camera mount on the nose…

Baby bonzer fins

Seren’s board gets a step closer – having just tacked on her baby bonzer fins that I foiled out of American Ash… they will get glassed and hot coated on on Monday and the rear fin will probably be an FCS plug based Protect fin to start with and then a larger custom FCS EVO fin that I will make when the time comes…

Demo boards coming soon

6’0” x 22” x 2 5/8” Porpoise EVO4 bonzer quad and 6’10” x 20” x 2 3/4” Cleanline EVO5 bonzer

high performance bonzering…

nice post on Surfy Surfy with some high performance bonzering – http://www.surfysurfy.net/

or check it out on YouTube

Lime green porpoise

 

Seren’s bonzer EVO3 gets some tint… I glassed this as a double 4 oz on the deck and 4 + 4oz patch on the bottom. Mixed up the lime green with 1 part translucent blue to 4 parts translucent amber.

EVO 3 bonzer fix

Lucas’s EVO3 Blunt diamond was fixed and looks just as good as the day it was finished. Sadly he lost the fin on impact so not only did I have to redo all the artwork around the fin area but also had to make a new fin. Daz did an excellent job on the sanding/gloss and polish. Cheers.

Why bonzers?

There is a lot written about bonzers… containment of the water via the concaves and the side fins, increasing drive and speed, allowing shorter wider boards (which turn more easily). For me, all theory aside, the crux of the matter is bonzers just “feel” better.
When I used to ride thrusters I was often plagued by poor foot positioning, (my excuses ranged from 7mm booties and numb feet, to onshore winds and bumpy take-offs)… and I used to frequently miss that narrow sweet spot that each board seemed to have. When I jumped on my first bonzer it just felt natural, the sweet spot seemed huge and pretty much I could ride it from anywhere on the board. And then there was the speed, particularly through roundhouses, and drive to spare. i was making it round sections I wouldn’t of, my off the tops came round quicker, and my take offs improved (due to extra foam and less rocker getting me in quicker). All of these components are a tribute to Malcolm Campbell and his original designs.
Whilst subtly (and radically) different, my boards are based on the theories tested and proven by MC and Duncan over decades.
Glassers hate them, sanders loathe them, polishers despair… and they cost heaps more to make (time and money).
So for me, why bonzers? Well, they just feel better… and that’s what surfing is all about for most of us.

Nigel Semmens - Malcolm Campbell - Bonzer Light Vehicle Russ Short - Guy Penwarden. Autumn 2009

Busy day…

  Fins ready to  go on the latest FreakFish…

Winds and swell were looking good, so…

checked  the surf down in the Badlands but ended up at Porthmeor…(great peaks!)

 

then raced back to the factory to collect Jack's board ready for him to ride this afternoon… 6’10” EVO3 Blunt Diamond

 

EVO3 bonzer Porpoise

My beautiful daughter’s first birthday is rapidly approaching (March) so I thought I’d mark the occasion not only with her first board, but a new model – The Porpoise. 5’4” x 19 1/4” x 2 1/4” bonzer with a Proteck rear 7” fin and mini-EVO3s. This will hang on her ceiling for the next few years and be met with a consistent “when your big enough and brave enough Seren”… it will be  a special day when we finally take it out.

A 6’ x 22 1/2” grown-up version of this board is already in the pipeline. Just love the plan shape.

Designed to be a total wave hog with a really stable platform, but lots of drive and manoeuvrability to carve all over the place. EVO4 fin set up and more rocker than a plan shape like this would suggest, so it should go vert with ease.